The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-01-13
IN A BIG HOTEL.
IMPORTANCE OF THE LINEN ROOM
WoMAN's DEPARTMENT.

Duties of tho Housokcoper's Assistant.
Destruction of Bed Linon-Fato of tho
Hotel Napkin-A Plnco for Executive
Ability.
One of the pleasantest and best Of tho
minor places among the employees of q big
hotel Is the linen room woman's. Sho
is subordinate of the housekeeper, but
her pay-wMch rarges from SIG to $50 q
months reasonably good; her duties are
clearly defined and not onerous, her re-
sponsibility is small, and her work is dono
under rather pleasant conditions
AL the soilcd sheets, towels, pillow
cases, bed spreads and other articles that
must 60 to the laundry are first carried to
the housekeeper, who takes accurate count
of them. When thoy como hack clean
they arc counted again, and such of them
as need repairing pass into the hands of
the assistant housekecpcr or linen room
woman, who with thread and needle or
sewing machine fixes them upas neatly as
neatly as possible. 1her Is great deal
of this work in hotel that has been rum
ming tor any length of time, especially If it
Is house doing mainlya a transient busi-
ness.
DESTRUCTION OF LINEN.
Washing destroys the linen much moro
than wearing does, and the destruction Of
linen in O house where the guests belong
almost entirely to the permanent class, or
boarders, and the beds arc not changed
oftener than twice week, is very much
less than where the changes are mado as
often as the rooms are vacated, which in O
transient business may occur every day.
On an average the destruction OF bed linen
amounts to about 90 per cent. per annun.
The loss on napkins amounts to about 30
or 40 per cent, as many of them are stolen
or mysteriorsly disappear. The wear and
tear on blankets-whicha are supposed to be
washed only once o years. small, and
they last q long time. Shaking airing
and summing them presumably keeps them
clean and wears them little. Then they
are only in use few months, while the
sheets, pillow cases and spreads are in SER
vice all the time. Primarily, in the selec-
ton of blankets hotel men arc exceedingly
careful to practice tho true economy of
getting articles that will wear, even II
their first cost is rather heavy. The blan-
kets as well as the linen are In charge Of
the linen room woman.
The dealing ont Of clean linen, etc., to
the chambermaids for tho rooms is NOM
inally done by the housekeeper, but in
takes the articles from their places on the
long shelves where the. are piled after
coming from the laundry, and keeps count
of what are given out.
FATE OF THE NAPKIN.
Napkins pass through other hands. The
head walters in the dining room, restau-
rant and lunch room-where the latter
exists--are required to keep count of them
when they go to the laundry, and again to
take stock Of them when they ore re-
turned. In good hotels napkins arc seldom
mended but when they have holes worn
in them by washing, or become frayed and
torn, they are discarded from public SER
vice and pass to other uses. Hence they
rarely get into the linen room woman's
hands.
The qualities that are required to make
woman useful in the linen room-order,
cleanliness, neatness, honesty and strict
attention to busineSs-are such rs are
likely to make her occupancy Of the place
permanency dependent upon her own
choice, and changes in this department are
1arer than in any other. The housekeeper
gets from $40 to $55 month, but her re-
sporsibility is much greater than that of
the linen room woman. Greater executive
ability is demanded Of her, and the proba-
bilities of her more active and ambitious
mind leading her to seek changes to better
herself are much greater than in the case
of the linen room woman, who IS generally
staid, middle-aged widow Of easy, con-
tented disposition. 1t is very seldom that
the latter rises to the place Of the former,
even when vacancy occuf5~- One Of the
leading uptown hotels has linen room
woman who has placidly held her place
and seen housekeepers come and go, and
even proprietorship change, during twenty
years.-New York Sun.